Lower North This Week: May 19-23, 2014

This week, we got to see the results of a month-long project undertaken by some Lower North girls. This project presentation was especially nice to see because it was a completely independent project. They conceived of, researched, wrote, and presented the project on their own, with only a bit of assistance from one of our Montessori moms. They taught us about the Arctic Fox’s classification, habitat, eating habits, survival characteristics, senses, and family life.

Rob brought back some new treasures from his long weekend away.

Rob brought some treasures back from a long weekend trip. The story goes, he stopped into a store and found a trilobite fossil that he bought for the Lower North environment. He got to chatting with the owner, told him he was a Montessori teacher, and ended up walking out with some pieces of amber with plant life preserved inside them and a bull femur from Arizona free of charge. Enjoy, Lower North kids.

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On Thursday, we opened up our packages of Painted Ladies caterpillars. Each is being placed into a container with food and moisture where the children can observe them going through their life-cycle process. Hopefully, we’ll be able to release some butterflies soon.

A baby robin rescued from a local path.

Also on Thursday, a brother and sister came into the school with a baby robin they had found on a path on the way to school. Lower North (the brother’s room) conducted some research to find out what to do. We discovered that it is OK to touch a baby bird — the mama bird won’t abandon it (but you definitely have to wash your hands) — but you cannot touch a baby deer because the mama deer would abandon it. We also checked in with yet another of our fabulous Montessori moms who told us the best course of action is to return it to where they found it. So off they went. After finding it a spot in a tree away from the cat that was eyeing it up, the mama and papa bird appeared.

“The mom and dad and baby chirped a lot, because they were probably communicating to each other,” said one Lower North boy. The parents then began bringing food to the long lost baby, and our crew left satisfied that they had done the right thing.

“It was a typical Montessori day,” said Rob. “You go with it, but what a learning opportunity.”

Finally, please see the info below about the Lower Elementary year-end trip to Crieff Hills: